Engaging remote teams

With the recent Coronavirus developments, many companies are asking employees to limit in person meetings. This often means we transfer what was designed to be an in person discussion to a phone call. And we know those calls can be dreadful. People can more easily get distracted and be less engaged. But we as facilitators have some tools in our toolbox to help create engaging discussions. Here are some ideas.

Redesign your content for the new medium. If you had planned on running a training workshop which involved some lecture and hands on exercises, consider finding a good video or article to cover the lecture portion of the topic and ask people to review it prior to your session. Then use the session to engage in a Q&A. Why? Because chances are the video or article is quicker and more engaging, and most people learn from reflecting on the material. And then the Q&A can be quite fun. You can use messaging or text through conferencing software like Zoom or Google Meet, ot Teams, or Cisco.... or...well you get the picture. There are a lot of options. Or you can sign up for something like Slido to help collect questions and even let participants vote on their phones the topics they most want to discuss. Miro is great for engagement as well.

Video on, self-view off. Staring out ourselves all day is messing with our brains. so turn off your self-view every time. you're welcome. And ask your colleagues to turn on their cameras. Why? Because seeing their expressions and engagement makes the quality of the connection better. Also--it's okay if people want to go camera-free at times if they are burnt out from being "on" all day.

Make time a tool. If you originally planned a 90 minute workshop, halve it to 45 minutes. Use techniques like time-boxing, where you put up a countdown timer while covering a topic during a screen share. Setting limits to topics on the agenda forces people to focus on the most important points, and keeps people engaged because of the pace.

Let’s not fall into the trap of “meetings that could have been emails.” It’s challenging to try to engage people distributed across locations. Don’t assume what works in person can be directly lifted and shifted to a call. Be thoughtful about the tools and techniques available to engagement people. Use the benefits of mobile devices (like chat, apps, etc) thoughtfully. Speak to people with enthusiasm and high energy. And build excitement and suspense by creating a faster pace using time-boxing.

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